WARNING: This website contains confronting and disturbing content, and names and images of deceased people. It may not be suitable for children under 15 years. Many of the historical images show an official, sanitised view which did not reflect reality. The faces of some adolescents have been blurred to protect privacy.

Exhibition objects

The passing of time and the nature of Children's Homes and institutions, where children owned very few possessions and sometimes wanted to leave the stigma of the institution behind, meant that the survival of objects is relatively rare.

Most of the objects featured on this website came from former residents of Children's Homes, who donated or loaned precious objects from their time in the Home, or from the lives they made outside. Many are now part of the National Museum of Australia's National Historical Collection and many were borrowed from the rich collection of Australia's Orphanage Museum (Care Leavers of Australia Network).